Review of Eraser

Introduction

Eraser, or Rubber as it was renamed for the British market. What is it about renaming movies for different markets? I suppose the next Harry Potter film will be `Harry Potter and the Room with Things That People Don`t Know About In` in the US market. I`m getting sidetracked. I`ve made no secret of my fondness for all things Schwarzenegger and have reviewed some of my favourite Arnie movies on this site. Unfortunately, my fondness is tinged with nostalgia, as I find that I don`t have the same appreciation for more recent fare from the Austrian oak. I think the rot set in not long after Terminator 2 when Arnie turned his talents to Comedy and Irony in duffers like Junior and Last Action Hero. Despite another successful collaboration with James Cameron in True Lies, I haven`t felt the need to see any of Arnold`s recent stuff like Collateral Damage and End Of Days. Why don`t I like Arnie`s recent movies? The answer is one word… Eraser.

John Kruger is a US Marshall in the Witness Protection Programme with extraordinary latitude in discharging his duty. He makes sure that witnesses remain safe by `Erasing` their identities, relocating them and setting them up in new lives. Usually his clientele consist of various criminal lowlifes who seek immunity from prosecution by testifying against their former comrades. But when Lee Cullen, an employee of Cyrus Weapons decides that her bosses are up to no good, selling futuristic weapons to foreign powers, she decides to follow the dictates of her conscience and volunteers to gather evidence and testify against her employers. John has to protect her from her employers, especially when they get deadly and unleash a weapon, the likes of which have only been postulated in Science Fiction. Hiding her isn`t enough, when the conspiracy extends to the highest levels of the US government and even John`s closest colleagues in WITSEC aren`t above suspicion. He must turn to the unlikeliest sources for help as he decides to fight back.

Video

On this single layer disc from Warner (yes, snapper case) Eraser gets a remarkably good 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. It`s a perfectly acceptable clear, sharp and colourful picture, but unfortunately there is some minor print damage that could have been looked at. You can tell from the get go, that it is an Arnie picture, with the title sequence where we see Eraser getting dressed for a day at the office, lifted from Commando and other typical eighties Arnie flicks. Similar to T2, this film has an industrial steely blue feel to the picture, giving it a hi-tech style suitable to the story. There are some excellent effects in this film, with the stunning plane sequence most notable. Some dodgy CGI effects in the shape of some humorous looking crocodiles/alligators balance this.

Audio

A DD 5.1 track kicks in from practically the first scene of the film, with the rears being called to convey the violence of an explosion. This is an action movie and it is the reason that Surround sound was invented. It`s not exactly reference quality but it is still well done. The dialogue is clear all the way through and Alan Silvestri`s music is generic action movie fare.

Features

This disc is light for extras, with a set of text filmographies and the theatrical trailer. For a nineties movie, the trailer has a remarkably tacky eighties style voiceover. You know the kind, they get a bloke to gargle with gravel for a week and then it`s "Arnold Schwarzenegger takes the law into his own hands as the one man army that is… The Eraser." Quite laughable really.

Conclusion

After Arnold Schwarzenegger`s box office value dropped with poor movies like Junior and Last Action Hero, he was supposed to return to form in Eraser, a film that went back to basics and showcased Arnie in what he did best, pure action. Sadly, box office was no longer forthcoming, as audiences had moved on in the intervening years and wanted something more than the usual Arnie output. I have noticed this in myself. When I first enjoyed Arnie movies, I was a teenager and senseless violence appealed to me. I lapped up stuff like Commando, Raw Deal and Red Heat, if simply to see the bad guys get their butts kicked and our hero wisecracking and quipping his way to a spectacular denouement. But come the nineties, I found myself older if not necessarily wiser, and desired to my horror, some decent character development and storylines in the movies I watched. I find even now, that when I watch the old Arnie movies that I do so with a tinge of nostalgia. Were I to consider them dispassionately in the cold light of day, I would have to say that they aren`t really that good, especially from a contemporary viewpoint. Arnold Schwarzenegger made some excellent movies, especially Predator and Total Recall in the sci-fi genre, as well as some classics with James Cameron. But while I may feel nostalgic for the old action movies, watching him trying to recapture old glories in 21st Century action fodder makes my teeth itch.

In Eraser, Arnold plays John Kruger and you would have thought that after all these years his acting would have improved. It has, but not in the right way, where before, he would have cracked a one liner deadpan, now he does it tongue in cheek, which totally kills the effect. Eraser also has some of the most risible dialogue ever committed to celluloid. I cannot comprehend how they got James Coburn and James Caan to take part in this movie, they must have been paid extra to utter their lines. James Cromwell is wasted in a blink and you`ll miss it appearance and Vanessa Williams is a generic damsel in distress. The only bright spot in this cast is Robert Pastorelli as the mob informant, Johnny C. OK the Sopranos this isn`t, but the mob moments are a welcome diversion from the tiresome story.

Up until now, the most ridiculous hand held movie weapon was Old Painless, the minigun from Predator, but that is nothing compared to this film. The big bad weapon in this movie is the handheld railgun. As described in the dialogue, a railgun accelerated aluminium projectiles to almost the speed of light using magnetic fields. The railgun is a theoretical concept, but the speed of light quoted in this is a throwaway line that the writers didn`t think about. I took Physics, so I did think about it. Ignoring time dilation and increases in projectile mass due to velocity, the sheer kinetic energy and ionisation effects of such a weapon would result in far more spectacular and lethal consequences than those shown in this film. So, I`m a nerd. But I spend so much time laughing at this conceit that I find it hard to concentrate on the film. I must admit though, the see through targeting looks cool. Arnold also gets to rise like an avenging angel from the ashes of a warehouse carrying two of these super bazookas.

In summary, we have a laughable concept, poor performances from the cast, awful dialogue and a tedious story. It can`t get much worse than this… Well actually it can. The Region 2 release of Eraser has been cut to achieve the more lucrative 15 rating. When I say cut, I mean hacked to pieces. Actually totally gutted is a better description. Compared to Eraser, the first R2 release of Die Hard With A Vengeance was a masterpiece of editing. Practically any scene of violence has been excised, with amateur ineptness. Scenes jump with no warning and continuity is completely shot to hell. The same mess affects the music, turning what was orchestration for an action scene into a random collection of notes. Over 3 minutes was cut to get the 15 rating, and the 18 rating in the cinema had required over a minute of cuts. The Region 2 release of Eraser is practically unwatchable. There are a few decent moments in this film, but they just about balance the films shortcomings. Should you be interested in Eraser though, and your player is capable, go for the uncut Region 1 release.